# Wineador issues!



## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

Hey guys! First post to this website. Well ive been researching about wineadors and decided to get one since I never have the AC on and my humidor was getting up to 90F. I bought a thermoelectric 12 bottle wine cooler and the first 3 days it was going great. On my digital calibrated hygro was reading 71%/66F. So to keep my humi crystals in my humidor I decided to get a humidifier. I got it, calibrated it and added some distilled water in the cartridge. Plugged it in and set it to 70% humidity. After the first hour it was up to 77% humidity and about another hour later it was at 85% humidity. So I took it out and let the humidity drop to 70%. Then I put my gel crystals back in and it shot up to 85% again without the humidifier. So I took everything out, only thing inside the wine cooler is my humidor and the hygrometer. I just checked it and the hygrometer without any humidification device inside is reading 78%. Anyone know whats going on with this thing??


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## copper0426 (Aug 15, 2012)

As humidified as itr was it will take a k=little while to come down even without humidification it is a sealed(very well) system. I think from what you wrote the active humidifier is way too much for such a small space. All you need is KL or beads. I have a 28 bottle and keep it humidified with KL. It doesn't matter what you set the active humidifier at it is just too much.


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

copper0426 said:


> As humidified as itr was it will take a k=little while to come down even without humidification it is a sealed(very well) system. I think from what you wrote the active humidifier is way too much for such a small space. All you need is KL or beads. I have a 28 bottle and keep it humidified with KL. It doesn't matter what you set the active humidifier at it is just too much.


I got the idea of a humidifier from a youtube video I watched. This guy has a 12 bottle cooler with a cigar oasis and 2lbs of beads and 3 of his hygrometers were reading 70%. I left the humidifier overnight and I woke up and it was reading 85%, so I decided to just leave it in there and now its reading 81%. So ima just let it do its thing and hopefully come down on its own!


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## jurgenph (Jun 29, 2011)

take out all humidification media, and see what it settles at with just your cigars inside.

also, inside a sealed environment, you should be using a active humidification media, something that cam absorb as well as release humidity.
eg. boveda packs, or beads.


J.


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## jurgenph (Jun 29, 2011)

also... what is the humidity inside your home?

did you plug/seal/tape the drain hole shut?


J.


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

jurgenph said:


> also... what is the humidity inside your home?
> 
> did you plug/seal/tape the drain hole shut?
> 
> J.


Yea I covered the hole with ductape, and I let it sit overnight and now their is a pool of water on top of the ductape. And, I live in so cali so the humidity is about 45-50%. Im basically using the wine cooler to keep my cigars cooler because I never run the AC and before the humidor was at 90F. But I want to buy boxes and put them in the wine cooler so that's why I want to get the humidity inside at 65-70%. Also I have HUMI-care gel jars inside but that dosent seem to work very much with absorbing and releasing humidity. It works fine in my humidor but inside the wine cooler it can never settle below 80% humidity. Its driving me crazy!


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

jurgenph said:


> take out all humidification media, and see what it settles at with just your cigars inside.
> 
> also, inside a sealed environment, you should be using a active humidification media, something that cam absorb as well as release humidity.
> eg. boveda packs, or beads.
> ...


I just checked the humidity inside and it seems to be settling. This morning it was at 85% and after about 4 hours I checked it again and its down to 79.4%. So it seems to be settling. Also since its such high humidity inside the wine cooler my humidor humidity is up to 75%


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## copper0426 (Aug 15, 2012)

bigfitzz1992 said:


> I got the idea of a humidifier from a youtube video I watched. This guy has a 12 bottle cooler with a cigar oasis and 2lbs of beads and 3 of his hygrometers were reading 70%. I left the humidifier overnight and I woke up and it was reading 85%, so I decided to just leave it in there and now its reading 81%. So ima just let it do its thing and hopefully come down on its own!


So basically he is using the beads to absorb the the excess humidity from the oasis. It's an unnecessary circle and a waste of money. I wish you the best but I think your chasing your tail a little. Best Of Luck


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## jurgenph (Jun 29, 2011)

here's my $0.02 at what is going on.

your cigar oasis inside your wine cooler is humidifying the air.
your thermo electric cooler element gets cold when it runs (and it will run a lot if your room temp is in the 90's)
this causes the moisture to consense, and drip down, leaving you with a pool of water.
this dropped down the humidity enough for your oasis to humidify again.
you now have an extra pool of water that is going to evaporate and saturate the air with moisture.

you need a humidifier that can absorb excess moisture, especially when your cooler will be cooling most of the time.
or you'll end up with a swimming pool on the bottom.



J.


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

copper0426 said:


> So basically he is using the beads to absorb the the excess humidity from the oasis. It's an unnecessary circle and a waste of money. I wish you the best but I think your chasing your tail a little. Best Of Luck


Well I let it do its thing for another two hours and I put in my gel jar. I just checked it and its down to 73%! And there is no water dripping down the shute. I ordered a 1/2lb bag of 70% beads, what kind of thing should I put the beads in, I was hearing a lot of stuff like a sock, nylons and a cotton shirt! Money really isn't an issue, I don't mind having a humidifier, gel jar and beads as kind of like a fail safe type thing.


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

Stop putting anything that has water in it. No gel, no distilled water. As soon as the RH began dropping you reintroduced the gel jar that will only add more moisture back in the air.

I made the same mistake and found that the movement of air from the fan will wick moisture off the gel and push the RH up way too high. Take it out and get some beads and DON'T add water to them.

What is your target RH ?


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

Gdaddy said:


> Stop putting anything that has water in it. No gel, no distilled water. As soon as the RH began dropping you reintroduced the gel jar that will only add more moisture back in the air.
> 
> I made the same mistake and found that the movement of air from the fan will wick moisture off the gel and push the RH up way too high. Take it out and get some beads and DON'T add water to them.
> 
> What is your target RH ?


My target is 65-70%. And I was doing that for a day where it was just my humidor inside the cooler but yet with no humidification device inside it was still going up to 85% humidity. I took out my gel jar and the water cartridge on the humidifier and ill let it sit overnight. I ordered the beads today (sunday) so I should have them by Thursday depending where they're being shipped from. So why do ya think the video on youtube I seen where this guy has a cigar oasis and beads and he is at a perfect 70% humidity? Im guessing once I get the beads in, it will all be A-OK. Also what would you recommend I put the beads in once they arrive?


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## jurgenph (Jun 29, 2011)

i would suggest to remove the oasis.

put beads (dry) on the bottom- mid- and top level of your wideador, to even out the RH level across the unit.


J.


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

If the RH in southern Cali is under 50% then just try shutting the unit off and opening the door to let the moisture get out.


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

Gdaddy said:


> If the RH in southern Cali is under 50% then just try shutting the unit off and opening the door to let the moisture get out.


I let it sit overnight with no humidification inside, just the fan unit of the humidifier and the humidor. I woke up and it was at 75% and right now its at 67.9% so till my beads come in ill just keep any humidification device out for now unless its drops too low then ill add the foam humidifier to raise it up a little. Also the pool of water where the drained plug is, is about a quarter sized pool compared to a really big puddle on the bottom when I woke up. So its looking good!


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

jurgenph said:


> i would suggest to remove the oasis.
> 
> put beads (dry) on the bottom- mid- and top level of your wideador, to even out the RH level across the unit.
> 
> J.


Yea I just need to wait for the beads to come in. I contacted the guy on the video I saw and he says to get beads and put them in dry so when you kick on the humidifier the beads are sucking up the moisture from the humidifier. Also I might need to refill the cartridge till the beads absorb enough till the moisture in the beads is perfect. I spent 75 bucks on the humidifier so ima use it since I cant return it hahahahaha. But thanks for the advice, really helped!!


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

It should be DRY inside with no "pools of water" anywhere. Not even the size of a quarter...none...nada...zilch.


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

I'd put some cedar boxes in there and start adding some cigars. This will add mass and moisture absorption. Don't put in ANY humidification device unless you get down to the low 60's RH. Then just add a SMALL amount.


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

Gdaddy said:


> I'd put some cedar boxes in there and start adding some cigars. This will add mass and moisture absorption. Don't put in ANY humidification device unless you get down to the low 60's RH. Then just add a SMALL amount.


Well I initially got the cooler so I can maintain the temperature inside my humidor since it was getting up to 90F. But now since ive sampled some cigars I wanna buy some boxes. My humidor barely fits inside so all im going to be able to fit would be 1-2 boxes so that's why I wanna control the humidity outside the humidor for my boxes. Once I get the humidity down and correct ima buy a box of montecristo to put in the cooler so the beads and the humidifier need to work together so I need to get around this learning curve.


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## alexcue (Mar 6, 2013)

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but why put the whole humidor inside the Wineador? get some cedar shelves and use that. Plus your boxes will have more room. They will help with the bounce of opening and closing your wineador and give it the correct smell for your cigars. Beads is all you need. I see no other humidifier being required. The beads do give and take the moisture. Crystals and gels just seem to release only. Get some 65% beads (which is i hope what you ordered) and spread them out. my 2 cents.


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## bigfitzz1992 (Jun 9, 2013)

alexcue said:


> Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but why put the whole humidor inside the Wineador? get some cedar shelves and use that. Plus your boxes will have more room. They will help with the bounce of opening and closing your wineador and give it the correct smell for your cigars. Beads is all you need. I see no other humidifier being required. The beads do give and take the moisture. Crystals and gels just seem to release only. Get some 65% beads (which is i hope what you ordered) and spread them out. my 2 cents.


Well I live in so cali and I don't run the AC, so my room gets really hot with TV's and computers running and before I got the wine cooler the temp inside my humidor was going all the way up to 90F. So I first bought the cooler just to keep my humidor cooler with my cigars inside with a gel jar. But now since I have tasted some cigars and found some cigars I really like I wanna add some boxes to my collection. So I was researching for a while and I wanted to start regulating the humidity inside the wine cooler so I can buy some boxes. I found a great build where the guy was using some beads and a cigar oasis, also 3 hygrometers inside and all 3 were reading a perfect 70%. So I opted to build my cooler like that, but I ordered the beads and humidifier at different times due to money. I just got my beads in today and put them in a thing of pantyhose since NOBODY has little mesh baggies. I went around everywhere to find little mesh baggies but nobody has them so I opted for some pantyhose. I put the beads inside under the chute where the water drips down and so far after being in the cooler for a little bit, its down to 74%. Now I also added the humidifier in also so it can put some moisture into the beads. At this moment its too early to tell if its working so ill keep it posted!


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